Georgia's pro-Western president Zourabichvili refuses to leave and prepares for showdown

Salome Zourabichvili's family fled Georgia in 1921 after Soviet forces snuffed out the country's three-year experiment with independence from Russia.

A century later, Georgia's pro-Western president is refusing to leave office, arguing she is the last legitimate institution in her country,

On Sunday, her six-year term as president is due to end. According to a new system for selecting the head of state, on that day she will be replaced by former Manchester City footballer Mikheil Kavelashvili, chosen with the support of the governing Georgian Dream party.

Zourabichvili, 72, has denounced his election under an electoral college system in which he was the only candidate as a travesty.

When she became president in 2018 she was endorsed by Georgian Dream, but she has since condemned their contested election victory in late October as a "Russian special operation" and backed nightly pro-EU protests outside parliament.

The government says if she refuses to leave office she will be committing a crime.

If she is forced out, she says the ruling party's takeover of the state will be complete and Georgia will have surrendered its sovereignty to a party that she accuses of serving Moscow.